Why do you believe in Hashem ?

momnaturally

Mon, Apr 23 2018, 11:57 pm

I have seen a number of posters openly say that they don't believe. I would like to hear from the many believers why do you believe?
What is your commitment to Judaism based on ? Did you spend much time thinking about it or did you always just do what you were taught and never really spent much time thinking about it ?

BesteMama

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 12:58 am

I think about it a lot. Obviously That I’m breathing it’s a sign that Hashem is here and making me breath. Nothing happens on it s own. And sometimes I Daven for things that according to nature is impossible to get and I got it! I mean who created the gorgeous world? And who is running it every second with such details? Nobody?

seeker

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 1:04 am

I've thought about it many times, in different ways, at different stages of life. I continue to think about it but I do think I have arrived at a point where it will never be questioning, just thinking. I believe in Hashem because I am thoroughly convinced He is truth.

relish

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 7:43 am

To me, the question is not "why do you believe in Hashem?", rather "why don't you believe in Hashem?".

It's so clear that there is a God that created us. It's so clear that He sustains us all.
Yes, at times, to me, it feels like people run the show, but it is very clear that He is powering it all.

Personally, I think that if people don't believe, and they dig, they will always find a reason for the non-belief. Be it something that was misrepresented as the word of God, culture, or something else completely.

blessedflower

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 8:22 am

Oh and the reason I believe in hashem: when you open your eyes and your mind to find him, you find him everywhere. I see so so so much hashgacha pratis in my life that I just can't ignore it! And I have witnessed such nissim in my life. True open nissim. No way can it be that there is no G-d

amother

Blush

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 8:33 am

There's an argument about kosher animals - I can't do it justice, but how did Moshe Rabeinu know about all the animals and fish that existed across the world? The Torah mentions the specific animals that meet only 1 requirement for kashrus and scientists haven't found another animal yet that only meets 1.

Also check out Hashem.com for some cool scientific videos that explain Hashem's existence.

amother

Black

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 8:36 am

I feel belief inside me. That doesn't mean I'm not angry or that I'm able to have a relationship now.

amother

Blue

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 8:51 am

I have thought about it lots, and thsee are my thoughts.

If it were just for the Jewish nation, I would leave in a heartbeat. So why do I stay? Well, I actually do believe in G-d & the torah. But the people have so much corruption and many including so called "rabbi's" are messed up, not living the way in the Torah. We are not being a light unto the nations.

One I am convinced that statistically and many other ways, the Jewish nation shouldn't exsist, no other small one from history does, not even the bigger ones, and we are even smaller. Then again, with our numbers no one should have heard of us except a few sociology professors who write boring thesis books that Noone reads. So I see divine intervention here. Then there's the anti-semitism. This to me is probably the strongest proof of all. The whole world hates us to the point of trying to kill us at one time or another. They don't care how we affiliate. So I believe we sin, prophecy fulfilled. We really, really should all be dead & gone by now at least 10x over.

Then there is nature. Have you flown a lot? Have you traveled a lot? Seen the size and extent of the worlday and how small we are? Can you explain the feeling of awe you feel in every cell when exposed to great beauty in nature. So I call it G-d. But then you have those who call it science. But we don't interpret the Torah literally. We interpret according to mesorah with our meforshim. Who said יום ראשון, יום שני etc are literal 24 hours? Who said each "day" is not a different longer time period? And then when G-d says something, how would that "look" to the naked human eye? The one who didn't hear G-d speak?

Then most low level professional career scientists don't believe. But what about the high level significant handful who at the height of their careers began to beleive because they came to the conclusion that it can be no other way.

How did our meforshim/ rabbis say that it takes 29 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes, 43.5 seconds for the moon to circle the earth back in the day of when the Talmud was being written? Nasa only got to say that relatively recently. There are all those examples. Like why the letters in the sons of haman were written small and that nazi @ nuremberg yelled purim fest on his way to be hung? There are lots of those examples.

Ibn Ezra, Ralbag, R Elihu Mizrahi, Vilna Gaon & Chasam Sofer were all either extremely well versed in the maths & sciences, first 3 wrote sefarim on the topics.

To me science doesn't contradict Torah or vice versa. Do you know carbon dating is based on theory, it allows MORE accurate dating, not for sure accurate dating. It definitely gives us sequence and time periods, but you can't PROVE it is actually completely accurate to the day. But like I began , who says יום אחד means 24 hours?

I think it's a cop-out for intellectual doubters to not learn science & torah plus kabbalah first hand to become intensely educated on both before coming to a final conclusion. And by learn I mean full out deep research. Because anyway no one cares, you're still a jew no matter what you do. So I feel you owe it to yourself to go in deep research on both ends and get your own educated conclusion.

PinkFridge

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 8:57 am

amother wrote:

removed

I'll tell you the truth. I don't have a science head. MEGO. I am aware of the other side without knowing all, or many of the details. I do know that there are brilliant Orthodox scientists who either reconcile or aren't bothered by science. There are also many brilliant non-professional scientist Torah scholars who have studied both sides who also manage to still believe.
So, since my inclination is to believe, I can go further.
Where does this inclination come from? Conditioning, sure. But part of the conditioning is that we are encouraged to own our Yiddishkeit, so I think a bit. I believe, like Avraham Avinu, that there is a Designer. I believe that the Designer is good and above pettiness. (Lehavdil al elef alfei havdalos, think of mythology. That's what happens when one can't transcend their limitations in conceptualizing G-d.) It's hard to believe that Hashem is all good. Amother black says it well. We also have numerous threads going on that this one is spinning off of about just how hard it is.
When I daven, my kavana is, Hashem, let me believe these words, let it get into my bones so that when the chips are down, I will still believe.

amother

Cyan

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 8:57 am

Delete double post

amother

Cyan

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:01 am

amother wrote:

I feel belief inside me. That doesn't mean I'm not angry or that I'm able to have a relationship now.

for those that are hurt by what hashem made you go through, listen to this song. It's in yiddish. I can translate it, but only later (when I have some more time). It's really beautiful and absolutely worth listening to.
https://jmusic.me/מיכאל-שניצלער-יא-דו-קענסט-michoel-shnitzler-yes-u-can/
It's song nr 10.

amother

Cyan

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:02 am

Delete

thunderstorm

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:02 am

I actually always believed and never questioned. I think a lot had to do with what was engrained in me since I was young.
My father also is a convert. But he is what people will call OTD nowadays. He told me that when he was searching , he looked into every single religion. He studied it all and is a brilliant man. He said one thing was made clear to him. Judaism and Hakadosh Baruch Hu are EMES. He found that with his questioning and his studying . He has a hard time with Orthodoxy, but he is a firm believer in HaShem.
I suffered really badly in life when I was growing up. My only source of comfort and hope for a better future was that I truly believed and felt HaShem was taking care of me. I didn't always understand why I suffered more than others but I believed the good and bad came from HaShem and it was all to make me a better person.
The daily miracles in my life have only made me feel stronger in my belief.

pause

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:07 am

I believe in Hashem because it makes life (mine and life in general) meaningful. There's purpose. There are goals. There are explanations (even those I don't understand).

Davka when going through a hard time, I connected more because how else can you explain why bad things happen to good people, if not for the fact that there's a Higher Power with reasoning beyond mine? There's purpose to my suffering which I don't understand, but just knowing it was comforting. And when there are good times BH, I thank Him because why do I deserve it? I'm no tzadekes...

amother

Taupe

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:12 am

People who believe in a higher power have a higher quality of life.
I want more emotional health.
I want to enjoy this world.
I enjoy it more when I believe.
It gives me meaning to the madness around me, and gets me through the rough days.

I have no patience for "scientific"s. I really don't care how old they think the world is, or whether or not Pluto is a planet. I also don't follow politics, because I don't have patience for that kind of stuff.

I follow myself and my personal growth. Believing in Hashem is a key factor in my growth. I'm glad it is. Makes life that much easier.

I guess I can say that I believe in Hashem because it's easy.

Going amother to protect my mask 😉. This stuff is way deeper than surface level, and hard to even admit to myself.

SuperWify

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:19 am

Because the alternative- not believing- means I’m all alone, living a painful life for no purpose.

So I chose to believe.

To believe that their is Someone who created me, sustains me and is always there for me. To believe that the suffering is all for a good reason.

My teachers always said the Torah has answers. I spent years reading and searching for them. Some where more satisfactory than others, but all still had gaping questions that were left unanswered.

What they failed to mention is that our minds are too small to comprehend the answers.

But that’s ok. I still believe that one day, after 120 years I will be shown all the answers that my soul already knew.

flowerpower

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:49 am

I believe it because I breathe it. Every day. I look around and see that someone higher than us has to run this world. Scientists are discovering now what was written in the torah years ago. I look for him throughout the day and see him! A kid missing a passing car by a millisecond, finding one piece left in the store that is the exact size you wanted... I can tell you many such little stuff every day. I feel his presence with me all the time. Nature, babies, weather... these cannot happen just by science. I think deep down every person believes there is a creater out there. They chose to claim otherwise for various reasons.

amother

Periwinkle

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 10:07 am

I believe, simply because the Jewish People still exsist.
Also, seeing the fulfillment of the prophesy of the ingathering of our dispersed people after two thousand years and the open miracles that occurred in the creation of the new state of Israel.

amother

Apricot

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 10:15 am

I've thought about this many times and I read alot on the subject of evolution and how it makes sense from a Torah perspective. In my search I came across Einstein's theory of relativity and that explains really well how 6000 years of the world existing makes sense from a science perspective too. It all depends if you are looking forward or backwards in time. Because space keeps expanding it changes the way we perceive time. When looking from creation to now it's only been 6000 years but when looking back because space expanded which makes time longer it's been millions of years.
So even from a scientific perspective you can understand how 6000 is not a random nr..

PinkFridge

Tue, Apr 24 2018, 10:36 am

pause wrote:

Good post. And you are right that when the good happens we shouldn't feel like, well, it's coming to me. And as hard as we might work to earn it, we know Hashem does more for us than we can ever repay. OTOH though, the fact is, we do have to work for it so that on some level we'll feel we earned it. This is the point of bechira, because we wouldn't enjoy all the good as much if we didn't have the chance to earn it. More to the point, we should have humility, but also recognize our G-d given kochos, and our efforts to use them properly.